Evolving Concepts of Quality of Life
August 2005

About This Report

As societies have executed the transition from industrial to postindustrial economies, the metrics for quantifying certain cultural dimensions, such as quality of life, have necessarily evolved. Economists traditionally compared the quality of life in one country to that of another by contrasting the per capita gross domestic product of the two countries. But companies facing increasing competition in attracting consumer attention and custom are looking for much finer measures of quality of life and a much better understanding of just what consumers think will contribute to their quality of life. Not only is quality of life a difficult concept to quantify; it varies from person to person depending on people's psychological profile. This study examines some of the complexities that companies are encountering as they try to deal with quality-of-life issues both for employees and for consumers of the companies' products and services.